Battle of Samurai Bridge
by PureWaterLily
Summary: It took the stab of a chidori to her heart to open her eyes. Canon rewrite. Sasuke vs. Sakura finale.


**A/N:** Remember when Sasuke was still batshit insane? Ah, good times.

.

" _What I said, Naruto, is that I love you._ "

.

Her eyes were wide open, blood trailing down her lips.

"Sasuke-kun..."

Sakura fell limp under the crackles of chidori, her hand shaking as she reached for his arm. Chuckling, Sasuke readied to yank his arm out of her chest cavity, when the touch on him tightened.

"You killed me."

There was a dip of disbelief in her voice, horror punctuated by a croak of painful disillusionment. Her lips were still parted, as she stared blankly at him, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks.

Her grip became bone-breaking tight.

Sasuke's gaze lifted to see that beyond the tears, markings had begun to spiral down her face. In the three years of his absence, she had dammed all her energy behind a wall. Her dedication. Her pain. Unspoken words and feelings. And now, that wall had fallen.

Her body flooded with chakra, vibrant and alive. His free hand had already formed another chidori, aiming for her neck this time, when a fist met him halfway.

The bridge collapsed, stonework in ruins.

From the debris emerged the corporeal shell of Susano'o. She blitzed across the water, an arrow tearing the right side of her abdomen in its graze past, her cloak fluttering in tatters. Her chakra redoubled, surging through her muscles and nerves, surgically sharpening her eyes.

The next arrow took aim. It had yet to fire when her eyes had analyzed its trajectory, her body gone before it splintered the earth below.

Merged into the cliff, Zetsu watched as smoke haze across the battle below. This was the kunoichi who had outmaneuvered Sasori. She had learned his tricks, the poison in the air already taken hold. She had _advanced_ his tricks, microbeads of her chakra inhaled into Sasuke's bloodstream, his antibodies disabled with each additional beat of his heart.

With a biting sting, Sasuke felt his arm fall paralyzed, the clarity of his vision vacuumed away. His senses alerted of the intruder inside his dissipating Susano'o, her kunai at his back.

The tip of the kunai cracked.

A veil of chakra remained coated on his skin, keeping him protected. His sharingan had flickered back on, his body forcibly made mobile again by internal pulses of electricity. He regained clarity just in time to catch motion from above.

Sakura's fist made impact. The ensuing earthquake could be felt for kilometers, the ground obliterated, tsunamis hurdling across the forests and valleys.

Water crashed back down to the earth in showers, soaking her hair and clothes, cleaning the streaks of tears down her cheeks. Her eyes were dry.

Zetsu reshaped, having taken the brunt of Sasuke's crash. Attached by his side, Sasuke had his palm over his eyes, sharingan flickering on and off beyond his control, his breath gone heavy. His previous matches had taken too much of a toll.

An army of white homunculi emerged from the water, stopping Sakura in her approach. From her peripheral, she caught the swirl of time-space, as a familiar masked man stepped in.

"I thought I told you to clean up and come back."

The masked man paused at the sight of Sakura, the marking of the granddaughter of the Shodaime on her forehead. It appeared an old teammate of Sasuke's had found him.

"I will." Sasuke lowered his hand, his sharingan spiraling once more. A new trail of blood was dripping down his face. "After I kill her."

Tobi assessed the situation. Zetsu was pumping chakra back into Sasuke, the wounds mending. But Zetzu had also mentioned poison, and Tobi could see it in the tautness and jerks of Sasuke's muscles as he rose.

The boy was fighting on sheer willpower, Tobi noted. Sheer willpower fueled by unbridled hate. Something about this kunoichi was a trigger, and he would not settle until she was gone.

"I said I would destroy the Hidden Leaf." Sasuke cracked his shoulder back in place, his attention fixed. "I will start with her."

He stared at Sakura, but behind the reflection of his Mangekyou, there was only Itachi. He could only see his brother's love, interwoven with his brother's suffering.

She was responsible for his death. Itachi had died for her protection. Itachi had died so she could live under the shelter of a home, laughing and swinging in the arms of her parents. Itachi, his kind, pure-hearted brother, had _DIED_ for this selfish, ungrateful, ignorant piece of trash. This trash who then dared spit on his name, deluding herself with her moral superiority and self-righteousness.

The caging ribs of Susano'o engulfed him with its divinity. He was going to put her back in her proper place, bowed at Itachi's feet. Danzou had already faced his judgment. It was time for her to face hers.

Tobi lowered his hand seal. If Sasuke wanted one last fight, he will let him. He chuckled at the blast of chakra so dark and bitter, it was inhuman.

Sakura faltered at the tower of black fire. Amaterasu. Sasuke had adapted Itachi's abilities, she realized, her footwork in retreat. Then by all likelihood, Sasuke had Tsukuyomi too. She leapt back at the slam of an inflamed fist.

She focused strictly on the chakra shell, strategies churning in her head. Whatever she does, she cannot risk a direct gaze into his eyes.

It was a mistake. She failed to predict the black fire that spun into existence, bursting to life on her body.

Sasuke's lips spiraled upwards. Her screams were musical, so desperate and raw. As he approached, he recorded her tremors into his retinas, the gasps and hitched breaths. Sometime during her fall, she had managed to unclasp and remove her cloak, but it was useless. Her regeneration was useless, only prolonged her penance.

"Sakura." He spoke her name for the first time, his voice calm, hypnotizing. "Look at me."

Her green eyes met his red ones. The dilation of her pupils, the haze of pain, the life within them that will soon extinguish. He recorded it all, the tomoe of his eyes spinning.

"When I fight Naruto," he whispered, "I will show him this. For 72 hours, I will show him your death, before I finally show him his."

His fingers dropped her chin. When he did, her body fell below the water, to drown and burn, burn and drown, sinking into the abyss until the last of her chakra ran dry and she was no more.

Sasuke left without looking back, his eyes obscured by shadow.

Naruto claimed he wanted to understand him. Said he wanted to understand his pain and suffering.

And so, he will. He will understand the depth of his loss. He will understand what it means to see the person you love most die before your very eyes. To fade away without goodbye.

.

 _Naruto, I'm sorry._

.

Sakura felt herself swept away by the river, eyes dazed and half-conscious, the flames of Amaterasu swirling around her like ribbons, slow and lyrical.

Before her were various images. Her bedroom, the bridge, the library, the school playground. She was sitting atop a tree, overlooking the village, where various people gathered below. Her parents. Kakashi-sensei. Ino.

In the center of this crowd was Naruto. He was the only one looking up at her, silly grin in place, his arms waving to catch her attention. He cupped his mouth to shout something.

Sakura thought it was going to be something along the lines of Hokage, but the movement of his lips were too off for that. Instead, he was chanting something four syllables.

Sa.

Ku.

Ra.

Chan.

When she got it, she had to smile. He mirrored her smile, arms tucked behind his head, pleased. That was right, he did always call out her name, said it even more times than "Hokage", used it so often you had to wonder if he had any other words in his vocabulary.

Excited, she cupped her own mouth and shouted back.

Na.

Ru.

To.

He seemed surprised that she did that, his cheeks flushed. But then, his smile became even wider than before, so wide it looked like his face would split. That moment, he looked like the happiest person in the world.

She hoped that smile would never fall from his face.

Sakura stared at the beams of light above, the glowing surface of the water. Naruto had once made a promise to her. She decided it was time she made a promise back, as she reached into her weapons pouch. A kunai glowed with chakra, the edges sharp and defined.

Blood burst into the water, spiraling reds and pink.

Strips after strips of flesh floated away, black flames floating away with them. Epidermis, muscle, bone. She peeled them away with surgical precision, just deep enough so her kunai would not touch the fire.

On top of the water, she breathed, her body purged.

Sasuke thought he had gotten rid of her. He planned to target the village next. He planned to kill Naruto.

His plans would fail. Her mind was already processing the battle, dissecting it scene by scene. His techniques would not catch her by surprise a second time. She would be more prepared the second time. She would protect her friends and family.

She would protect Naruto.

It was the promise of a lifetime.

.


End file.
